Where will your first meal out be, post covid and what are your "traditions?"
My choices:
For casual, Taqueria las Mulas, Que Tortas, the Alpine Pub, Souplantation (fight me), or Yakitori Yakyudori, with my kindle or the latest Vanity Fair magazine, double awesome if the VF has an article by Bethany McLean.
For semi-casual date night, Hooley's followed by a movie (Rancho), Grand Ol BBQ with husband, drinks, and excellent conversation, or Mongolian BBQ (with same).
For upscale date night, Trust, Born & Raised, Juniper & Ivy, The Grove, or Baci, all to include good friends, good drinks, lengthy conversation about martial arts, travel, and dogs, good uber drivers to deposit us safely to our homes.
I've been thinking I will go to Trust again as soon as I can; only been twice, and a full year since the last visit.
Then it will be Lola 55, Puesto La Jolla, Kroran Uyghur, and our local favorite Vietnamese restaurants. All places I wish I had gone to more often. Overall, we haven't been eating out much for the last several years, but I plan to develop a more frequent habit once the situation allows.
There are so many places I'd been wanting to try, two of which were suggested by cstr, plus the many places I love and frequent. Too long of a list since I eat out almost every day (or used to). But the very first place I'm going to go to post-covid is the humble favorite of mine, Pho Hoa in Linda Vista, for their excellent pho tai. Pho tai is something you can't really take out, because the very thin sliced beef has to be raw when served, cooking quickly in the scalding-hot broth in your bowl as you stir up the noodles and stir in the jalapeno slices.
If the nearest one wasn't 180 miles away, Sweet Tomatoes (Souplantation) would be on my list as well. That said, I did lose 10 lbs after I moved to a place where there wasn't one nearby...
I'm definitely going to hit a few places on Convoy (see the Convoy Thread for some of my recent picks) and on El Cajon. Also, I'll 2nd Grand Ole BBQ for some excellent brisket and Smoked Turkey.
Next for Happy Hour, Whiskey House, they have awesome Vietnamese style wings and a very good Kale Salad. Then, of course, the bar at Nine Ten with undoubtedly the best HH food offerings in the area.
Lastly, Trust and J&I and maybe Dobsons for a bowl of Mussel Bisque in honor of the late BC.
Buckboard's BBQ in El Cajon. A great alternative to Grand Ol BBQ, and another example of true smoked Q.
Cucina Basilico in La Mesa because we love the food, the ambiance, and the staff.
All the places on Convoy we've been wanting to try, especially Yasai with my vegan daughter.
On a whole other note to Dagney, I'm also a devout fan of Vanity Fair.
Great question.
There's a Chinese restaurant close by in West Kensington called The Fortune. It's a cliche. It's red, terribly decorated, brightly lit, with awful wine and crap service. But the food is magnificent, real Chinese. It serves a leg of lamb dish cooked 3 times, finally steaming it for hours. The fat becomes gelatinous and wobbles when they bring it to the table and It cuts with a spoon. That's where I'm off to.
I'd like to link you to their site but, as expected, they don't have one.
As far as traditions go. I argue with the waiter that the bottle of white they've served me can't be served at room temp however much he argues that it's fine.
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